The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-05-07

| legislators of the several States | have
not been conscious of any responsibility
IN connection with the contest which /.
now going on at Tallahassee. But
should lose something of NV self respect
If. | should remain silent while "A gentle.
man who has honored me with hi.
friendship. and whom hold in the high,
est esteem, il subjected Ia atrocious as-
saults. ann not AT all afraid that bovisll
anger. springing from thWarted ambition
and finding vent in contemplate slnrs
and the quotation of defamatory par.
agraphs from irresponsible pens. will
hide the record of George r. Drew from
such of o'Ir citizens as happen to bc blest
with fair measure of intelligence. We
all understand the habits of the cutie
fish: and the inspiring of paragraphs for
the purpose of quoting them Is a trick
entirely familiar Ia the observers Of hu-
man action. Still. il i worth our while
to remember where we stood in 1875 aud
how we got upon better ground.
The tax payers Of Florida had become
convinced that, il one ray of hope was
ever To dawn upon them. the State must
| be rescued from the control of the car
pet-baggcrs. Their representatives met
in convention. ready To lay aside all diff
ferences and earnestly desiring 10 unite
on a man whose reputation and sterling
worth would yield the promise of vic
tory. They found in Mr.. Drew the sin
| gle man who. i'm the interior of the
| State. had demonstrated his ability to
| overcome the ruinIous force of carpet
| bag government and. despite all the OBJ
Stacles Ia prosperity, had pushed on a
| great enterprise Ia triumphant success.
| They knew that lac had come Ia Florida
| at the close of the war. with "A little
| nearly WORKOUT steam engine and a set
of dilapidated machinery and. beginning
| with the work of his own hands. had
moved on step by step till he was en-
| ploying four hundred men and provid.
ing the necessaries of life for hundreds
of families scattered mp and down the
banks of the Suwannep river. They
knew, too. that. amid all his large trans
actions and his wide-spreading relations.
his integrity had never been called in
| question for one moment. and that his
word was a. good as any mans bond or
any mans affidavit. They found no
| difficulty. therefore. in arriving at the
| conclusion that. il rescue was possible.
il could be achieved through the candi-
dacy Of George +. Drew My own opin-
ion, from that time 10 this, has been that
no other man could have led the Democ-
| racy of Florida Ia victory in 1876.
Wherever he went among the people. he
| confirmed the conviction which had pre-
vailed at the convention as Ia strength of
his common sense and the elevation of
his character. There was no gushing: no
| tawdry rhetoric: no universal scattering
about of the signs of particular affec-
| ton: but the impression of massiyeness.
solidity and trustworthiness was made
| ON all who saw and heard him. II is
true that many capable men threw their
energies into tn" canvass very zeaiously:
but, without the manifest cI,rrocfcr of
George F. Drr ~. all would have been in
vain.
Ii is unnecessary Ia dwell oB the fea-
lures of his administration. We k,c,-~
that increase of bonded indebtedness
was stopped Immediately: that "A floating
debt Of $3.50 900 was paid oil within two
years; that Gov. Drew voluntarily sus-
pended collection of "A considerable por-
tion of the taxes authorized 10y the Leg
islature. and that his successor found i'm
movement a high tide of prosperity on
which a Ounce could have hoated. In
advocacy of his denomination | was
able to say to the convention of 1850:
You can point out no faults in Governor
Drew's administration rs reason for
setting him aside. for you build all vour
hopes of victory on the merits of that ad-
ministration. You expect to succeed in
the coming contest because of his great
achievements ON behalf of the people of
Florida No man controvcrted that po-
sition. but resolution highly com
mendatory of the Drew adininistra-
ton was adopted unanimously. The
tenor Of spe-ches and editorials du-
ring the contest was precisely what |
predicted. and the ma iorityof 800 in 1876
was changed To "A majority of 1000 in
1880. To ignore all the potent factors in
the canvas of the latter year and de-
scribe the change in the popular vote to
the effectiveness of school declamatiOns.
is enough Ia stir up laughter under the
ribs of deaths, and. If We could rcprcss
a just Indignation. We might experience
a contemptuous amusement AT the gibcs
and sneers with which a crowd of little
whipper-snapper are assailing such "A
man as George +. Drew has proven him
self To be.
Men will weigh for themselves the re-
cent correspondence between Governor
Drew and BlOxham. | am quite ready 10
have the dignified tone. in which my
friend discusses matters have direct
bearing on IA duty which it. il incumbent
on our Legislature to perform. contrasted
with the angry filings and inelegant per-
sonalities scattered throughout the let
ters of Governor Bloxham. II Is quite
plain that the laiter's statement con-
cerning the sale To the English syndicate
is not i'm harmony with the affidavit Of
Mr. Swami. and 1. for one believe the
affidavit As to the Okeechof-e matter.
/ am informed that old residents Of
South FLORIDA anticipated the re-submer-
sion of the lands a. a certain conse-
quence of the usual amount Of rainfall.
At all events. the charge of ''un-eemly
haste in making the conveyances to the
Drainage Company has called out 40 adj
qeuate explanation. The proceeding
will continue To stand as a parallel To